'Lots of fun and lots of filth'- Janet Street Porter on her new tour coming twice to Lancashire this week

Loose Women’s most outspoken panellist is celebrating turning 80 with her biggest solo tour to date and it arrives in Lancashire this week.

Janet Street-Porter is part way through her new tour ‘Janet Street-Porter Is Still Off the Leash at 80!’ in which she promises to bring “comedy, tragedy and gossip in equal measure” as part of “a tour de force rant against growing old gracefully”.

The 79-year-old star brings the tour to Lancashire not once but twice this week: first she is at Lancaster Grand Theatre on Thursday, October 29 and then she heads to Lowther Pavillion on Friday, October 31.

Ahead of her arrival in Lancashire, Janet sat down for an exclusive chat with entertainment reporter Aimee Seddon so take a look at what she had to say next...

How you feeling about bringing your one woman show to Lancashire?

“I'm looking forward to it because I'm enjoying this tour. I started it a year ago.. and I suppose I did about 35 dates in that year up to last June, and then I took a break.

“After the first tour, I got loads of requests to go to places that obviously I didn't go to, so that's why I'm coming to Lancashire because I didn't do anywhere in Lancashire before.

“For this tour, my agent said to me ‘Oh well, you're going to be 80’, which I didn't need reminding about. He said, ‘Why don't we call it Janet Street Porter not 80 not out?’ And I went, ‘Well, I'm not a bloody cricket team. I mean, that sounds like something to do with cricket. So anyway, we've called it ‘Still off the leash’.

“It is a lot more dates than the previous tour, and I had a knee replacement in the middle of the previous tour. I only took three weeks off, which is probably a bit mad, but there we go. So I started this tour in September in Kent this time. I've done Seven Oaks, Canterbury, and so on, and then I'm just working my way up to you. I'm starting in Liverpool on Wednesday, and then I'm going to Lancaster, and then Lowther Pavilion in Lytham St Anne's.”

You may not have brought the last tour to Lancaster or Lytham, but have you brought any previous show to either of those towns?

“Oh, I'm trying to think. To be honest, Aimee, I did a tour- -oh my God, you probably weren't even born- after I did I'm a Celebrity in 2003. I also had written my first memoir so I think I toured in about 2005, and I definitely did some places in the Lake District, and I might have done Lancaster, but I definitely did not do Lytham St Anne's, and so I'm really looking forward to playing at the Lowther Pavilion because everybody said it's a lovely place, an absolutely wonderful place. I think Lancaster is a lovely town too. So you know, it's good to get out of London and get up north.

Can you remember what audiences were like up in Lancashire?

“Well, I know that in the last tour, I played Runcorn outside Liverpool and it was just the noisiest, best audience I had. So I think that yeah, I'm looking forward to it because the people in the north show their feelings more, and they're more responsive. I mean, sometimes you do a show and you don't know if the audience enjoyed it or not, and I don't think that's the issue the further north should go.”

You said you haven't bought a show to Lytham, but have you been to the Fylde coast for fun?

“I have been to Morecambe*. I used to have a house in Yorkshire so 20 years so I would go across and we would go to Morecambe and go walking. I love that hotel they restored in Morecambe, right on the seafront. I haven't been a lot, I've got to say.”

*We know it’s not quite Fylde coast but we let Janet off!

What about Blackpool?

“Oh gosh, when I was a newspaper editor, I had to go to Blackpool party conferences. I remember staying- I didn't like my hotel in Blackpool, so I stayed in a posher one in Lytham St Annes, and then I had to get the expenses past my editor.

“I have been back to Blackpool to see the Pet Shop Boys.”

Ah I have interviewed Chris Lowe, he was lovely.

“Well, Chris Lowe comes from Lytham St Annes, and I will be seeing him, yes.”

I was going to ask if you’ve got any plans for whilst you’re up in Lancashire. I wasn't expecting you to say ‘visit a Pet Shop Boy’...

“Well, there you go! Probably in a fish and chip shop.”

If we go back to your show, how would you describe it?

“A lot of bad language, a lot of bad behavior, a lot of random sets. I've got my teenage diaries, and then in part one, I start off with where I am now. I can't believe I'm a pensioner, I don't feel like a pensioner. I think the word pensioner is pretty horrible, actually. Perhaps we should rename people of a certain age. Why don't they just rename us as living treasures or something? Anyway, I start the show by explaining to the audience that we're not really on an uplifting journey, I'm going to be doing a lot of offloading, and I'm going to talk about my mother and growing up. My mother was actually born in Birkenhead, but to Welsh parents, and considered herself 100% Welsh and grew up in North Wales and only spoke Welsh as her first language.”

I'm from Birkenhead

“Are you? Well, you know what, I only know my mother was born in Birkenhead because I read her birth certificate because she would never admit it. She always said ‘I'm Welsh through and through’, and then she would launch into a lot of Welsh. I mean, in my show I say that my mother was obsessed with speaking Welsh, even though we grew up in London. So imagine it, I'm in a house in London, and my mother speaking Welsh all the time!”

So we do get to hear about your personal life?

“Oh yeah, the first part of the show is about growing up, rows with your parents, my teenage years, losing my virginity. The shows that I've done so far, when I describe what you're like as a rebellious child, and you start keeping diaries and looking at your parents as if they're exhibits or animals in a zoo, you think you can't believe they're related to them, so many people in the audience have said to me that was their experience too. The show has gone down very, very well with women who've come to me and said they didn't get on with their mothers, or you know they wanted to be a rebel. I think people do relate to it. So in part one of my show, it's really up to the point where I run away from home, and then in part two, I talk a bit more about my career and what's happened since then, and also I invite the audience to give me questions. They have to write their questions out in the interval and then in part two, it's really up to them. I'll answer questions on anything. And obviously, I've had some really wacky questions.”

Can you share any?

“The most asked question is ‘which Loose Women do you not get on with?’ So I tell them I'm not going to answer that. As if I'm going to tell people!”

Well, on that, if people do know you from Loose Women, are you the same Janet on stage as you are on TV?

“Oh yeah, more or less the same, just more badly behaved, and also I can say things that I can't say on air because it's not daytime telle’.”

What are some of the naughtier questions you’ve been asked?

“I don't want to give them all away because what happens with the really good questions is, if the audience you're in front of haven't asked it, I just slip it in. I've had one or two real corkers, really, really good ones. One person asked ‘When you interviewed David Bowie, did he smell?’

Did he?

“Well actually, I only read half the question. I thought it was a horrible questio but when I looked at the card on my way back to the hotel it actually said ‘What did he smell of? Did he have a lovely perfume?’ I thought he meant ‘Did he actually stink?’ Which I did think was a bit odd. People have asked me questions like ‘What was the first record you ever bought?’ ‘Why do you keep on getting married’? I like to point out there is a long gap before the last one. They ask ‘do you keep all your engagement rings?’ Obviously, I do.”

You mentioned you talk about your career, I assume that's more than just Loose Women as you've had decades of career experiences before that show?

“Oh yeah. Well, I've edited a national newspaper and been a columnist for 50 years. I've written two columns in the last week: a column for the Independent about being a newspaper editor and a piece that's in the I newspaper today about the BBC saying that it's going to focus on younger audiences and move money to YouTube and TikTok to try and attract younger audiences. I've written a piece about that because I do feel the BBC can't afford to lose the core audience, which is the over 60s. Whether they like it or not, that is their audience. And in the last week, I've done Loose Women twice, and yesterday I was doing the news review on This Morning with Bryony Gordon. So I've had a very busy week, so that is my career. I do Loose women. I do my show, and I write, and I try to write, you know, every month. In the run up to Christmas. I'll probably write about four more columns.

So, as well as your own experiences, do you spend time on this show talking about general issues that affect the nation?

Oh yeah, well I always have a rant at the beginning. Something will have caught my eye.

“So, as well as talking about your life, some serious topics too, can we expect lots of fun as well?

“Yeah, lots of fun and lots of filth. You can put it like that.”

So, why should people in Lancashire, if they haven't already got tickets, buy tickets for your shows?

“Well, because we’re gonna have a night out. Everybody who’s come has said what a lovely, fun evening they've had. If you go on my Instagram, lots of people have said ‘Oh, I went with my mother, and I haven’t seen her laugh so much in years’ or ‘I went with my friends and we just had a good laugh, it was a good night out’. And also, I say things that a lot of women would like to say, but haven't got the courage to do it.”

And are you likely to carry on the party when the show's over, are you going out in Lancaster or Lytham?

“No, no, no! I'm knackered. I go back to the hotel, and then it's about 11 o'clock, and I'm starving but I mustn't eat anything that late. So what I try to do is make a hot chocolate, and if I haven't got any real milk, it's really sad. You're making it with a little powder, and then you're mixing in the long life milk. Oh, it's sad.

Because you are turning 80 in two months…

“Don’t remind me!”

…so how does it feel to still be drawing such large crowds when you're turning 80?

“It's fantastic. It's good. It's energizing. The thing is, when I wake up, I probably feel 180 but when I'm on the stage, it's just great.”

And after this tour, do you have any more future plans you'd want to mention?

“I'll probably carry on ‘til I drop.”

Are we going to get a ‘Janet Street Porter Is Still Off The Leash at 90?’

“Yeah, definitely.”

100?

“[Laughs] Yes! Something to aim for. I’m definitely going to live ‘til I’m 100.”

Final question Janet, is there anything else that you think the Lancashire readers should know?

“No, just buy the ticket, get a good question ready, and you'll have a laugh.”